Write about someone keeping track of time with tally marks on a wall — until one day they discover that all the marks are gone.

Posted in General on Jan 6, 2021

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✍️ 145 stories

“Back In Age” by Tangerine Timmy 🍊

I’m Nicholas, But call me Nick.Ever since I was five and old enough to write I marked a tally on my bedroom wall to keep track of my age.Now I'm eighteen and I have thirteen tallies marked.I have an interesting and mysterious story to tell you so listen carefully.⚝⚝⚝“Nick, Rise And Shine!” my mom said as she stuck her head through the doorway to wake me up for breakfast.I rolled over to face the wall and tried to get five more minutes of sleep. But my ey...

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“The Remains of Yesterday ” by Nainika Gupta

*Nainika’s Note* I dearly, dearly hope that something like this never happens. I hope that we can achieve at least 70% herd immunity and Covid-19 will soon be a thing of the past. Something we scare the next generations with. Something I can tell my future children or grandchildren was super scary and that I lived through it. That being said, this is also something that could happen if we continue to ignore the scientists. Slow the spread, people. Flatten the curve. We can only beat this pandemic by working tog...

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“Graphite Lines” by 𝙲𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚊 𝚂𝚑𝚊𝚠 🏳️‍🌈

The sound of the graphite point scraping against cement. Drawing a line. Placing a hand on the cold wall. Pulling it away and inspecting the black dust. Is it ash or graphite? Her home had burned. She had been put here. She wore clothes of rags. Her hair was uneven and dirty. Her eyes had once been full of life and beauty. Now, they were empty. Dev...

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“Into The Leviathan’s Maw” by Laura Clark

The bioluminescent ribs arch high above, spanning the sky. Leathery skin behind them stretches taut and cuts off whatever view there might be. Twisting around the bones are vines of darkness, occasionally bridging the gaps between to link the only sources of light in my world. In the early days, I had tried to use the vines to climb high enough to survey my environment, but they were as brittle as hope and as sharp as disappointment. I always fell, my hands crisscrossed with thin lines of blood. Now, I simply watch ...

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“Always and Forever” by Writer Maniac

“Maggie?” “Magdalena?” “I’m coming, give me a second,” I yell at Mom, pulling up the world map to its original position to hide the marks behind it. I guess I have to cut it off after lunch. You always knew that Mom meant business when she called me Magdalena. Rarely anyone called me that anymore, being the mouthful that it is. Except for him, who always ...

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“The Thaw” by Alexandra Tostrud

The landscape has been frozen for at least two hundred thirty-seven days, an immaculate display of snow-covered evergreens and rivers stuck at a standstill. The smoke from his chimney hovers over the quaint little cabin, never to rise any higher (though he long hoped that it would, someday.) The only change he was granted was of the sun and moon, cycling through the sky at a regular pace. He assumed as much, at least: th...

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“250 Days” by Iona Cottle

Esme sat and watched the sun pass across her room, just as she did every day, waiting for the right time. That wasn’t to say that she watched it all day, every day, although she did spend a lot of her time – probably more than most – just watching the box of light trek across her painted wall. It wasn’t as though there was all that much else to do. During the morning, when the light was be...

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“White Room” by Thora Porter

272. Days. That was how long I have been trapped in this room. I don’t even know what this room is. All I know is that I have been stuck here for a very long time. The room is white. White walls. White tiles on the floor. A white bed with bleached white sheets. White light. So much white that it’s sickening to even look around. The only things that are not white are the marks I have written on the wall. I don’t even know how I wrote those since I have no pen, but somehow the mark...

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“How long has it been?” by Moon Lion

I yawned lazily, realizing that it must be nighttime out there. Well, maybe, or maybe not, I mentally debated for a few moments before reverting to laziness. I'm tired which means it's sleep time. I had been inside the bunker for so long, in this windowless, not too hot, not too cold place, that my body had forgotten all about the rhythms of the outside world. Picking up the metal na...

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“all gone” by 𝚋𝚕𝚞𝚎 𝚐𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚎𝚝💙

I reached for the small rock that I had been using to mark the red brick wall. A week has already passed. 7 short vertical lines left tiny indents in the worn down brick. The wall had been there practically forever. It didn’t serve an actual purpose but it did give us a place to sit. I came here everyday after it happened to mark the days she was gone. It wasn’t fair but there was nothing I could do about it. ...

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“Suicide pact” by Coco Longstaff

Every Friday, my parents cook the most delicious turkey that has ever existed on Earth. They use natural ingredients that I have never heard of before. Every time they make it, I ask them for the recipe. They just never tell me. Instead, they looks at me with a smile mixed with sadness and joy, and tell me that one day, when their time has come to pass, they will tell me. Tell me the Secret Ingredient. This is the routine that happens every week, every Friday.Little do they know that their time will be my time too.

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“Hell?” by Annette Lovewind

I add another tally to the wall. There were so many I lost count or was too lazy to count them anymore. I’m trapped in this room and I have no idea why. It’s like this medieval jail cell but with a few upgrades. There is no dirt floor, instead a cold stone one, I have a window but it’s so small I can just see the few sun rays that peek through when the sun is setting or rising I have no idea but I know I’m not underground. I just add a tally for when it happens. Stone walls, A wooden door that is locked, nobody comes in and it has never o...

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“The Heart of War” by A.g. Scott

1 // Andrei.There was nothing anyone could do to stop it: darkness was about to fall on the quiet village of Elinya.And so, as the last swells of light sank behind the Rhodope Mountains, the people made their preparations. Torches flickered to life along the main roads and at the gates. Clean smoke swirled up from chimneys and floated away with the westward wind. Quiet prayers went on behind closed doors, some to Christ, some to Allah. Every ordinary family had their ordinary routine, a...

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“Fresh Colours” by Shannen Wright

First there was the cold grey hard wall. Then there was the soft plush carpet. A dark black carpet that held the stains remarkably well. There was dust, naturally, but it only lingered in the corners where the wall met the skirting boards. A long grey line of dust, and fluff that marked a 3d outline of its scenery. The ceiling was white. On one wall was a hole about 10cm tall and ...

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“The Tally Marks of Doom” by Daniel Hayes

In the not too distant future, human civilization has all but come to an end. There are very few people still alive. So how did we meet our end? Did we blow ourselves up with nuclear weapons, did we come to our ends from some deadly and unknown virus? The answer to both is a resounding no. We met our end in the year 2100, where Aliens came to Earth and started a planetary war. They wanted our resources, and cared nothing...

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Write about someone keeping track of time with tally marks on a wall — until one day they discover that all the marks are gone.

Submissions are closed!

✍️ 145 stories

“Back In Age” by Tangerine Timmy 🍊

“The Remains of Yesterday ” by Nainika Gupta

“Graphite Lines” by 𝙲𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚊 𝚂𝚑𝚊𝚠 🏳️‍🌈

“Into The Leviathan’s Maw” by Laura Clark

“Always and Forever” by Writer Maniac

“The Thaw” by Alexandra Tostrud

“250 Days” by Iona Cottle

“White Room” by Thora Porter

“How long has it been?” by Moon Lion

“all gone” by 𝚋𝚕𝚞𝚎 𝚐𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚎𝚝💙

“Suicide pact” by Coco Longstaff

“Hell?” by Annette Lovewind

“The Heart of War” by A.g. Scott

“Fresh Colours” by Shannen Wright

“The Tally Marks of Doom” by Daniel Hayes

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about someone scrambling to finish a goal in the last few hours of the year.

Write a story that takes place across ten days.

Write a story that takes place across ten seconds.

Write a story in the form of a top-ten list.

Contest #74

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

907

Submissions

Win $50 in our short story competition 🏆

Tired of MS Word?

Explore more writing prompt ideas: